Modern World Warlock

When the trio found the inconspicuous shack in the middle of the frozen lake, they saw how the arctic foxes happily ran up to its entrance, showing Dante and his group that the lake could safely be crossed.

Megan commented that it was strange for a shack to be there, in the middle of nowhere, far away from any town or big city. Still, it wasn't impossible.

Dante walked forward first, stepping onto the icy surface and sliding his feet with every stride so as not to slip.

As he reached the entrance to the small shack, the foxes jumped and spun in place, using their body language to tell the group they had reached their destination.

Meanwhile, Megan and Vesnia stayed back, looking over the area to make sure they hadn't walked into a trap.

*Knock, knock* "Hello!?" Dante shouted after gently knocking on the wooden door.

After a few seconds of no response, Dante tried to check if there was anyone inside by using his magic detection, but he didn't feel anyone's energy inside the shack.

When he walked around and tried to peek inside from a window, it was all black, as if a curtain was covering his sight. However, Dante could tell that it wasn't a set of drapes obstructing his vision. Instead, he could feel a slight fluctuation of mana coming from the window.

'If this isn't the witch's hut, then it must be a relative or someone close to her…' Dante thought.

While the warlock kept walking around the house, Megan contacted Trinity and sent a pin with her location, allowing the hacker to inspect the surrounding area using a satellite.

The satellite was a creation of the Azure Rebels, but right after their alliance with the Jade Dragons, they gave Trinity full authority to use it as she saw fit.

During their call, Megan revealed that they had found a shack in the middle of the frozen lake, but whenever Trinity looked at the image provided by the satellite, nothing was there.

At first, the hacker believed that the satellite's image was outdated. Normally, GPS satellites would take pictures of an entire zone and refresh them every few years to account for any changes in the environment.

However, the Azure Rebels satellite was supposed to update itself every minute, so the fact that the small shack wasn't appearing seemed to be deliberate.

Trinity could even see the trio standing there through the satellite's image, but alas, the hut did not appear on her screen.

"Alright. Excuse me, I'm coming in!" Dante shouted, interrupting Megan and Trinity's call as he banged on the wooden door with his shoulder.

Still, while the structure trembled from his tackle, the door didn't budge an inch.

"It's secured with magic…" Dante commented, though he didn't look disappointed.

Even if he couldn't get into the shack, the fact that it was locked with magic was enough proof that an experienced mage was living there at some point.

"The question is: Are they still living there and simply stepped out for some time? Or is the house abandoned?" Megan wondered aloud.

Dante gazed at the group of foxes, who sat near the main entrance with expectant eyes, prompting him to try forcing the door open a few more times to no avail.

Without any other options, the trio decided to build their camp right beside the frozen lake, so if the owner of the house came back, they would be able to see them.

It only took them a few minutes to build, thanks to Paige's self-building capsules, and after lighting a fire, they sat around it and warmed themselves from the icy wind that struck the area.

By the time nighttime fell upon the group, not a single person had gone near the shack. The group of foxes were the only living beings that stuck around the area, apart from the trio.

Trinity asked Megan to send her a picture of the shack, and when the hacker received it, she used it as a reference to look for any other pictures of houses that looked similar on the internet.

It was clear that the shack wasn't normal since it wasn't appearing on the satellite images, but since Megan was able to take a picture of it with her phone, Trinity believed she could find a clue if others had also snapped a shot of it.

After the trio had dinner and shared some of their food with the foxes, they went inside their tent and prepared to get some rest. However, Dante planned on staying awake to see if the witch returned late at night.

There was no need for anyone to guard their camp during the night in such a remote place, but now that they were right beside a house that clearly housed someone at some point, it was safer to have someone guarding.

Megan agreed with the warlock's assessment and asked to be woken up in a few hours so that they could switch. Nevertheless, Vesnia interjected and said that she could easily stay awake all night since she barely used any of her power supply during the day.

"It's fine if you want to stay awake all night. But if you get bored or tired, let us know and we'll switch," Megan said to Vesnia, who was determined to guard the camp.

Some time after Dante and Megan had fallen asleep inside the tent, Trinity tried to contact them, but the only one who could take her call was Vesnia.

The new cyborg and the hacker hadn't interacted at all, but since Vesnia was the only one who was available to talk, Trinity decided to dump the information she found on her.

It turned out that Trinity found four other pictures of a shack that looked exactly like the one in the frozen lake. Not a single detail was different.

The pictures had been taken in different parts of the world, though all of the locations were areas with a cold climate.

One picture was taken in Alaska, another in New Zealand, Greenland, and one in the South Pole, which was supposedly taken by a researcher.